When the 13th Five-Year plan, laid out at a key meeting in late October, is completed by 2020, the Communist Party of China (CPC) will see the 100th anniversary of its birth.

First taking cues from the Soviet Union decades ago, China's five-year plans have served as a central guideline for its economic development. As always, the implementation of the new proposal will hinge largely on how the Party improves itself, which can also provide some inspiration for other political parties over the world.

SELF-CLEANSING RESOLVE

A record number of 10 members and alternate members of the CPC Central Committee were expelled at the fifth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, underscoring a widening recognition that China' s anti-corruption drive will continue.

For quite some time, corruption was considered inevitable as the economy flourished, serving as a lubricant for official business relations. And though it is often heard that anti-corruption efforts will peter out in the face of pushback, more officials have fallen.

Since late 2012, dozens of high-ranking "tigers" and thousands of lowly "flies" have been nabbed. The CPC has learned from the fall of other ruling parties that an able Party must have the gut to root out corruption once and for all.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has repeatedly said that corruption threatens the survival of the Party.

That's why the proposed plan ensures efforts will not stop nor relax until an anti-corruption mechanism is forged in which officials "don't want to be corrupt, don't dare be corrupt, and couldn't be corrupt even if they did."

Before the new five-year plan was formulated, the CPC released a new disciplinary regulation, listing golf and gluttony as violations, further demonstrating the Party's resolve to strictly govern the Party.

NEW DOCTRINE FOR DEVELOPMENT

The proposal highlighted innovation, coordination, green development, opening up and sharing as the new ideas of development in the next five years for the first time, demonstrating the Party's adaptable perception about governing the country.

The CPC has made its mistakes. The start of the reform and opening up drive in 1978 marked the pivot from class struggle to economic development, which helped elevate China to the second largest economy in 2011.

But the pursuit of growth at all costs, featured by high-investment, high-waste growth, low labor costs and extensive pollution, is no longer sustainable as China enters a "new normal" state.

In recent years, the central leadership has gradually changed its evaluation of officials, with mere GDP growth receding to a more comprehensive assessment system.

The 13th Five-Year Plan further underlined the trend.

ABILITY TO MANAGE THE SECOND-LARGEST ECONOMY

After all, whether the CPC can improve itself is still reflected in its ability to manage the world's second-largest economy.

The proposal confirmed China's goal to double the size of its economy by 2020 from 2010 levels. To do that requires more scientific, professional and democratic decision-making by the Party.

One method propsed says the CPC will reform the selection system of its officials, focusing more on their professional skills and their understanding of the country.

The Party also echoed the key essence of the fourth plenary session, vowing to make more efforts in rule of law, including strengthening the judicial supervision of the government.